Man Faces Grim Task When Told He Can't Keep Chickens

A new resident of Lehigh Acres pleaded with county commissioners Tuesday to adopt a backyard hen ordinance so others wouldn't face the grim task he must perform after being told his flock is illegal.

"What I'm asking you for is change the zoning, not to allow roosters that make noise, just for some hens in the back yard," Edwards told Lee County commissioners during public comment period Tuesday.

"I'm not asking for free range for chickens, all I'm asking is some common sense," he said. "These chickens make no noise, you can't hear my chickens, they don't smell, they don't get in the neighbor's yard."

"Get back with the community council there and see if you can neutralize them or better yet, hear some kind of a positive expression as to what they would support in terms of chicken ordinances under certain circumstances," Mann said. "The problem in the past came because the chickens were close to their houses, there may be some way to craft this."

But offered no immediate answers to making his brood legal, and facing $250 per day in fines, Edwards left the commission chambers with a grim task ahead at his home.

In his single-family home on an acre lot in a remote northern part of Lehigh Acres, Charles Edwards has been leading his own personal farm to table movement.

But the one-man sustainability movement suffered a blow in mid-April when a certified letter arrived from a county code enforcement officer, informing him to either get rid of his flock of seven chickens, or face fines of $250 per day. Breakfast is orange juice from his grove and spinach omelette's from the output of his backyard garden and his chicken coop.

"These chickens have become more like pets to me," Edwards said. "Now I have to go kill my chickens because I can't find anyone that will take them."